Warren mayor blames state for service drive weeds

WARREN, MI (AP) — Grass and weeds are growing too high along the Interstate 696 service drive in the Detroit suburb of Warren, and Mayor James Fouts blames the state.

In a letter Wednesday to Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle, Fouts called the service drives "state-created eyesores" and said MDOT is not mowing enough.

"This is deplorable," Fouts wrote in the letter. "While we are working hard to clean up our neighborhoods and forcing residents to cut their high grass, MDOT is blighting our service drives with high weeds."

Some of the weeds are 6 feet tall, he added.

Warren is due to have the service drives mowed in about two weeks to 20 days, but budget troubles allow for only one grass and weed cutting each summer, Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi told The Associated Press.

Snowplowing, salting and road maintenance pushed MDOT over its $88 million winter budget, said Morosi.

"When you go over your winter maintenance budget, you have to take from summer," he said.

Fouts has asked Steudle permission to charge the state if Warren city crews can do the cutting at least monthly.

That may not be a bad idea if it's financially responsible, Morosi added.

"Having local crews do the work ... we're willing to sit down and talk," he said.